Over the vacation period I began the project of writing a translation and commentary of Propertius I with the view to working in an essay and attempting to put it together as a book, work continues alongside the sudden plunge back into University work including the learning of Ancient Greek from scratch, endless fun I can assure you. Nonetheless I am still putting a little time into this Propertius business and have decided to put my translations up here as they come. I’m well aware that they tend to wander a little far from the original Latin so I make no apologies if they are somewhat creative in their English usage. Equally I’ve employed free verse as opposed to attempting a metrical translation, since I find that attempts to recreate the Latin meter can sound terribly forced though I have to say that 11,8,11,8 seems to fit Propertius I very well. My vade mecum has been the solid translation of R.J. Baker’s Propertius I published by Aris and Phillips Ltd-Warminster-England.
Any comments, queries or ‘how the hell did someone so godawful at Latin get into Oxford?’ questions then feel free to email me (harv2610@yahoo.ca)
I.
Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis,
contactum nullis ante cupidinibus.
tum mihi constantis deiecit lumina fastus
et caput impositis pressit Amor pedibus,
donec me docuit castas odisse puellas 5
improbus, et nullo vivere consilio.
ei mihi, iam toto furor hic non deficit anno,
cum tamen adversos cogor habere deos.
Milanion nullos fugiendo, Tulle, labores
saevitiam durae contudit Iasidos. 10
nam modo Partheniis amens errabat in antris,
rursus in hirsutas ibat et ille feras;
ille etiam Hylaei percussus vulnere rami
saucius Arcadiis rupibus ingemuit.
ergo velocem potuit domuisse puellam: 15
tantum in amore fides et benefacta valent.
in me tardus Amor non ullas cogitat artes,
nec meminit notas, ut prius, ire vias.
at vos, deductae quibus est pellacia lunae
et labor in magicis sacra piare focis, 20
en agedum dominae mentem convertite nostrae,
et facite illa meo palleat ore magis!
tunc ego crediderim Manes et sidera vobis
posse Cytinaeis ducere carminibus.
aut vos, qui sero lapsum revocatis, amici, 25
quaerite non sani pectoris auxilia.
fortiter et ferrum saevos patiemur et ignes,
sit modo libertas quae velit ira loqui.
ferte per extremas gentes et ferte per undas,
qua non ulla meum femina norit iter. 30
vos remanete, quibus facili deus annuit aure,
sitis et in tuto semper amore pares.
nam me nostra Venus noctes exercet amaras,
et nullo vacuus tempore defit Amor.
hoc, moneo, vitate malum: sua quemque moretur 35
cura, neque assueto mutet amore torum.
quod si quis monitis tardas adverterit aures,
heu referet quanto verba dolore mea!
Cynthia first captured me with her eyes, wretch that I am,
untouched as I was by Cupid’s arts,
then she cast down the steady gaze of my pride,
and Love trampled upon my head with his feet,
until he taught me to hate good girls,
that bully, and to live my life according to no plan.
Alas for me, already this fever for a full year has made no end,
while still I am compelled to hold these adverse gods,
it was not by shirking his labours, Tullus, that Milanion,
won over the savage heart of Isaeus’ harsh child,
for once he was wandering, out of his mind, in Parthenian valleys,
out to kill wild and shaggy beasts,
that man, struck with the wound from Hylaeus’ club,
shattered, he groaned upon Arcadian crags,
and thus he was able to tame the fleet-footed girl,
such are worth prayers and kindnesses in love.
In me Love is slow nor does he think through any plan,
nor does he recall known paths as before,
but you, whose art it is to lead down the moon,
and labour to preserve the sacred magic hearths,
come for the purpose of turning the mind of my mistress,
and make her face more pale than this bloodless one of mine,
then I will believe that you are able to lead,
the stars and shadows with Cytinean hymns,
and you, friends, who too late recall a fallen comrade,
seek out remedies for this rent heart of mine,
bravely I will endure iron and savage fires,
if only my anger is free to speak as it wishes.
Bear me through far off lands, carry me across the waves,
where no woman will hound my footsteps,
you remain to whom the god gives a facile ear,
may you always be equal in safe love,
for me, my Venus harasses me through mournful nights,
and at no time is Love idle or easy,
this life of misery, I warn you avoid, let each man,
look to his own care, nor alter his place for shifting love,
but if there is a man who too slow turns his ear to my warnings,
oh grief! With such pain he will recall my words.
III
Qualis Thesea iacuit cedente carina
languida desertis Cnosia litoribus;
qualis et accubuit primo Cepheia somno
libera iam duris cotibus Andromede;
nec minus assiduis Edonis fessa choreis 5
qualis in herboso concidit Apidano:
talis visa mihi mollem spirare quietem
Cynthia consertis nixa caput manibus,
ebria cum multo traherem vestigia Baccho,
et quaterent sera nocte facem pueri. 10
hanc ego, nondum etiam sensus deperditus omnis,
molliter impresso conor adire toro;
et quamvis duplici correptum ardore iuberent
hac Amor hac Liber, durus uterque deus,
subiecto leviter positam temptare lacerto 15
osculaque admota sumere tarda manu,
non tamen ausus eram dominae turbare quietem,
expertae metuens iurgia saevitiae;
sed sic intentis haerebam fixus ocellis,
Argus ut ignotis cornibus Inachidos. 20
et modo solvebam nostra de fronte corollas
ponebamque tuis, Cynthia, temporibus;
et modo gaudebam lapsos formare capillos;
nunc furtiva cavis poma dabam manibus:
omnia quae ingrato largibar munera somno, 25
munera de prono saepe voluta sinu;
et quotiens raro duxti suspiria motu,
obstupui vano credulus auspicio,
ne qua tibi insolitos portarent visa timores,
neve quis invitam cogeret esse suam: 30
donec diversas praecurrens luna fenestras,
luna moraturis sedula luminibus,
compositos levibus radiis patefecit ocellos.
sic ait in molli fixa toro cubitum:
‘tandem te nostro referens iniuria lecto 35
alterius clausis expulit e foribus?
namque ubi longa meae consumpsti tempora noctis,
languidus exactis, ei mihi, sideribus?
o utinam talis perducas, improbe, noctes,
me miseram qualis semper habere iubes! 40
nam modo purpureo fallebam stamine somnum,
rursus et Orpheae carmine, fessa, lyrae;
interdum leviter mecum deserta querebar
externo longas saepe in amore moras:
dum me iucundis lassam Sopor impulit alis. 45
illa fuit lacrimis ultima cura meis.’
Just as Knossian maid lay, faint upon deserted shores,
with Theseus’ ship drawing away,
just as she slumbered in first sleep, Cepheus’ daughter,
Andromeda, now freed from the harsh crags,
no less than an Edonian girl exhausted by ceaseless dancing,
just as she falls upon Apidanian grass,
so she seemed to me, breathing in soft repose,
Cynthia, her head rested upon delicately poised hands,
when addled by too many draughts of wine, I was dragging my steps,
and the boys were shaking the torch in the late night,
the girl I try, not yet deprived of all my senses,
to approach, seized by twin desires they urged,
this love, this wine, each a harsh god,
me to try lightly slipping my hand beneath her sleeping form,
and to take up kisses and move to arms with my hand,
yet still I did not dare to disturb the sleep of my mistress,
dreading the well-known scoldings of her savage temper,
but thus I lingered a gaze with straining eyes,
as Argus at the strange horns of Inachus’ daughter,
and now I was loosening the garlands from my brown,
and I was placing them, Cynthia, around your temples,
now I was enjoying reshaping fallen tresses,
now I was placing stolen apples in your hollow hands,
all these gifts which I furnished upon ungrateful sleep,
and so often they fell from a sloping fold,
every time a seldom sigh drawn in motion,
I froze believing in vain lest,
some nightly terrors unsought carried a vision to you,
or that some man was compelling you, unwilling, to be his own,
until the moon, crossing the windows opposite,
the moon so busy with its lingering light,
opened the eyes sealed in sleep with its bright rays,
thus she says, elbow forced into the soft couch
‘finally some rejection has brought you sloping to my bed,
shut out and thrown out from some other girl’s doors?
For where else might you have squandered the long hours of my night?
Good grief! Look at you, limp with the stars calling into port.
Oh would that you bear such nights you heartless man,
the same as you compel always my wretched self to have,
for now I was denying sleep with crimson thread,
exhausted yet again by the song of Orphic lyre;
meanwhile I was weeping softly to myself, deserted,
at how often and how long you tarry with another love,
until sleep pushed me, falling, with his pleasant wings,
that was my last thought with my tears.
V.
quid tibi vis, insane? meos sentire furores?
infelix, properas ultima nosse mala,
et miser ignotos vestigia ferre per ignes,
et bibere e tota toxica Thessalia.
non est illa vagis similis collata puellis: 5
molliter irasci non solet illa tibi.
quod si forte tuis non est contraria votis,
at tibi curarum milia quanta dabit!
non tibi iam somnos, non illa relinquet ocellos:
illa ferox animis alligat una viros. 10
a, mea contemptus quotiens ad limina curres!
cum tibi singultu fortia verba cadent,
et tremulus maestis orietur fletibus horror,
et timor informem ducet in ore notam,
et quaecumque voles fugient tibi verba querenti, 15
nec poteris, qui sis aut ubi, nosse miser,
tum grave servitium nostrae cogere puellae
discere et exclusum quid sit abire domo.
nec iam pallorem totiens mirabere nostrum,
aut cur sim toto corpora nullus ego. 20
nec tibi nobilitas poterit succurrere amanti:
nescit Amor priscis cedere imaginibus.
quod si parva tuae dederis vestigial culpae,
quam cito de tanto nomine rumor eris!
non ego tum potero solacia ferre roganti, 25
cum mihi nulla mei sit medicina mali;
sed partier miseri socio cogemur amore
alter in alterius mutual flere sinu.
quare, quid posit mea Cynthia, desine, Galle,
quaerere: non impune illa rogata venit. 30
You jealous fool, at last put an end to your irksome chatter,
and allow us to traipse the path upon which we are equal companions,
what do you want, you madman? To feel my frenzies too?
Unhappy man, you hasten to know the extremes of misfortune
and a wretched lover to trip through lurking fires
to sup on poison draughts from all of Thessaly’s pools.
She is not the same compared to all those errant girls,
the girl herself is not wont to be gentle in her rage at you,
but if by some chance she is not outright hostile to your entreaties
oh she will weigh you down with so many thousands of cares,
no longer will she allow you your sleep, not even your own eyes,
the girl, like no other, entangles men fierce in spirit.
ah, often scorned you will run to my doorstep!
when all your brave words fail into racking sobs,
and a shivering ague will spring up with sorrowful tears,
fear will draw upon your face it’s appalling signature
what words you wish to give voice to your complaints will flit away,
nor will you be able to know who or where you are, wretched lover,
then you will be yoked under the weighty servitude to our girl,
learn what it is to trudge home when you are shut out.
Then you won’t wonder so often at this bloodless face of mine,
or why there may be nothing left to my thin frame.
No, to you your high fame will be unable to bring aid once a lover,
love doesn’t know how to yield to ancestral busts.
Yet if you let slip small traces of your guilt,
with such speed your great name will become simple gossip!
Then I would be unable to bring you comfort for the asking,
since I have no means of treatment for my own disorder
but side by side in our lover’s alliance of misery, we will be forced
to weep in turns one upon the other’s breast,
Therefore cease your questioning, Gallus, of what my Cynthia can do,
with grievous cost she comes when she has been entreated.
IX.
dicebam tibi venturos, irrisor, Amores,
nec tibi perpetuo libera verba fore:
ecce taces supplexque venis ad iura puellae
et tibi nunc quiduis imperat empta modo.
non me Chaoniae vincant in amore columbae 5
dicere quos iuvenes quaeque puella domet;
me dolor et lacrimae merito fecere peritum:
atque utinam posito dicar amore rudis!
quid tibi nunc misero prodest grave dicere carmen
aut Amphioniae, moenia flere lyrae? 10
plus in amore valet Mimnermi versus Homero.
carmina mansuetus lenia quaerit Amor.
i quaeso et tristes istos sepone libellos
et cane quod quaevis nosse puella velit.
quid si non esset facilis tibi copia? nunc tu 15
insanus medio flumine quaeris aquam
necdum etiam palles, vero nec tangeris igni:
haec est venture prima favilla mali
tum magis Armenias cupies accedere tigres
et magis infernae vincula nosse rotae 20
quam pueri totiens arcum sentire medullis
et nihil iratae posse negare tuae.
nullus Amor cuiquam faciles ita praebuit alas
ut non alterna presserit ille manu
nec te decipiat quod sit satis illa parata: 25
acrius illa subit, Pontice, si qua tua es,
quippe ubi non liceat vacuos seducer ocellos
nec vigilare alio liminine cedat Amor
qui non ante patet donec manus attigit ossa:
quisquis es, assiduas heu fuge blanditias. 30
quare, si pudor est, quam primum errata fatere 33
dicere quo pereas saepe in amore levat. 34X
[illis et silices et possint cedere quercus, 31
nedum tu possis; spiritus iste levis.] 32
I used to say to you, ridiculer, that love was heading your way,
and that your words would not be at liberty in perpetuity,
look, you’re silent and a suppliant to the orders of a girl,
a slave girl you’ve bought orders of you whatever at all she pleases,
speaking of love, they don’t prevail upon me, these Chaonian doves, 5
to speak of what young men each girl holds sway over,
my grief and my tears have made me a hard-learned veteran
Would that love were placed aside and I were said to be a fresh recruit,
what use is there for you now, poor wretch, in composing a weighty epic
or to weep for the walls of Amphion’s lyre? 10
In love, Mimnernus’ verse is more fitting than Homer.
Gentle Love, seeks out soft-bedded songs.
Go I beg and lay aside those careworn books
and sing such a song that the girl should wish to hear,
what if the material may not easily come to you? Well now, 15
you are akin to a madman seeking water in the midst of a stream,
Nor yet have you paled, nor indeed are you touched by true fire,
this is just the first spark of the approaching distemper,
then you would rather desire to tangle with an Armenian tigress,
and to know well the restraints of the revolving wheel of Hell, 20
than to feel the bow of our boy Cupid, often pierce your very marrow,
and to be incapable of denying your girl in all her rage,
thus Love has never supplied a pair of light wings to any man,
that he won’t then press down, first with his right hand, then his left,
nor may it deceive you that the girl seems sufficiently prepared: 25
the girl, she steals in all the sharper, Ponticus, if she is your girl,
since it is not permitted to take your eyes off on a tour,
nor does Love allow you to watch another’s threshold,
he who does not emerge until his hand has smitten to the bone:
whoever you are, good grief! Flee from such continual flatteries, 30
to these both flints and even oak trees might be able to yield,
no less might you fall, trivial breath of spirit that you are,
therefore if you’ve an ounce of modesty, confess your errors in haste,
to speak of how you waste away is often a comfort in love.
Commentary
Elegy 9 carries on from Elegy 7 in addressing the epic poet Ponticus who by now has fallen victim to the passion that Propertius hinted at in 7.15 ‘te quoque si certo puer hic concusserit arcu.’ Some humour derives from the fact that Ponticus has fallen in love with his own slave girl, described here by the perfect passive empta, which of course allows Propertius to play with the idea of role reversal in the servitium amoris. Baker sees some similarity here with Catullus 6 in which the poet’s friend, Flavius, is seen to be in love with some ropy, flighty strumpet whom he is too ashamed of to introduce to Catullus. Nonetheless in this elegy there is a lack of the mocking tone found in Catullus 6, the fact that Ponticus is smitten by a slave girl only accentuates the manner in which love in the Propertian sense turns normal social relationships upon their heads. The theme of love elegy as opposed to epic is again picked up from elegy 7 as Propertius advises the wretched lover that there is little use in his continuing to compose his ‘weighty songs’.
1. Dicebam: The use of the imperfect here hints at a continual action or at least a reference to a past warning. With Elegy 7 in mind the colloquial translation could be something like ‘I did warn you, Ponticus’
2. perpetuo libera verba fore: The idea that love somehow results in a constraint upon a man’s freedom of speech is one we have already met as early on as 1.28 ‘sit modo libertas quae velit ira loqui’ and again at 5.17 ‘et quaecumque voles fugient tibi verba querenti’. Such constraints upon freedom of speech are well attuned to the idea of Propertian slavery and fit well with further constraints over the eyes (7.27) two ideas are evoked, firstly that of constraint and secondly that of a loss of words; in the servitium amoris it appears that the victim of love’s fire finds that words simply fail him.
3. taces: the OCT has this whilst MS Ω renders it iaces, Baker goes with the latter translating ‘you’re laid low’, which is perfectly adequate as well as proleptic of the domet of line 6.. I have chosen to stick with the OCT since the picture of Ponticus left speechless is not only an attractive one but follows particularly well from the second line.
4.empta: As already noted this one word stands in for a slave girl bought by Ponticus and whom he has fallen in love with. As a role reversal it is a particularly marked one, perhaps even a little comic that the slave should be ordering around her master. We are also presented with the likelihood that such a relationship would be seen as a rather low affair, one, I might speculate, more shocking than the servitude of the freeborn Propertius to his freeborn mistress Cynthia.
4. Quiduis: Tricky one here, the OCT renders this as quiduis: a singular neuter nom/acc indeclinable pronoun meaning ‘whoever it be, whom you please, any one, any, whatever, anything’. Baker renders it as quouis modo (‘in any way at all’) from MS ς whilst Camps and Richardson read quaeuis with empta (MS Ω) which produces ‘any slave at all’. I have stuck with the OCT and read quiduis as the object of imperat but then again I did only get a 2:1 at Mods…
5. Chaoniae columbae: A Chaonian dove refers to the oracular shrine of Jupiter at Dodona, in Epirus. A talking Dove features in the foundation-myth; see Herodotus II.55 for an explanation of sorts. When priestesses began to be associated with the shrine via the cult of Dione they were called doves. Whether the poet refers to talking doves or priestesses here is really quite difficult to tell.
6. domet: Literally ‘she conquers’ or ‘she tames’ my translation wanders a little from the Latin in favour of emphasising the result of being conquered, ie the power wielded over the defeated.
7. Peritum: The idea of expertise fits well here with the more militaristic ‘veteran’ and has its parallel if we translate the following rudis of line 8 as ‘fresh recruit’. Duty (1.12.19) and Propertius’ rejection of genuine armed service in favour of armed service of love (1.6.29-30) provide enough of the idea of the miles amoris to make this work.
9. quid tibi nunc misero prodest: Here we have some reference back to 7 as Propertius gently mocks the use of epic verse in relation to love elegy. The adjective miser is again used here of one who is in love.
10. Amphioniae, moenia flere lyrae: In Greek mythology , Amphion was the son of Antiope and Jupiter. The walls of Thebes were constructed by stones that were charmed into position by the music from his lyre. Again this refers back to 1.7.1 in that Ponticus’ epic was about Thebes ie. aThebaid.
11. Mimnermi versus: Mimnermus of Colophon, Ionia wrote elegiac poetry around about the 7th century BCE, curiously enough, though he is contrasted to Homer here, he was influenced by the Homeric style directing it more toward themes such as love and the erotic. Perhaps he is particularly relevant here given the rumour that he was involved with a flute girl who gave her name ‘Nanno’ to one of his two books. Either way Mimnermus would have been considered one of the pioneers of love elegy by Propertius and his contempories.
12. mansuetus Amor: Love is a gentle god, he is also a naked god (1.2.8), a bully (1.1.6), a slow god (1.1.18)and an active god (1.1.34)
12. carmina levia: these smooth songs look back to the mollem versum (1.7.19) that Ponticus will wish in vain to compose once he has fallen in love. I have again thrown caution to the wind and translated as ‘smooth-bedded songs’ simply picking up on the field upon which love’s battles are often fought out. One which is devoid of the sharp language of war poetry or to quote Matthew Good, one on which there are no ‘nickels at night left under the sheets’
13. Tristes libellos: Given the subject matter of Ponticus’ Theban epic is that of ‘armaque fraternae tristia militiae’ there is a certain careworn and sad quality to such an ancient, tragic tale. Equally the idea that Ponticus might be reading through these books as a form of distraction from his passion that is they are careworn with his many attempts to rein in his concentration is rather pleasing. Propertius’ advice is clear, lay them aside for as we know from line 9, they are of little use to Ponticus now.
14. cane quod quaevis nosse puella velit: That Ponticus is to do as Mimnernus and Propertius have done and direct his poetry to the service of love, he too may end up as Propertius describes himself in 1.7.7: ‘nec tantum ingenio quantum servire dolori’
15. si non esset facilis tibi copia?: Baker translates copia here as ‘access’ and notes that there seems to be a lack of basis for a division between access to the mistress or access to inspiration. While Saylor makes a good case for copia meaning the same thing whether it be ‘literary or amatory inspiration’ I rather think that this here is specifically literary inspiration and have translated copia as ‘material’. It fits better with the following line since if the indulgences of the girl were freely flowing all around Ponticus he’d be unlikely to be the miser amor,(see 16 for more) it seems to make more sense that if Ponticus can’t find the material for a love song in his sorry state then he would indeed be akin to a madman seeking water (fruitlessly) amidst a stream.
16. insanus: by this point the madness/love theme is well and truly established.
16. medio flumine quaeris aquam: A fairly straightforward idiocy of making a great labour out of something really quite simple. Baker notes that as regards the favours of the mistress they are easily obtained since she is a slave girl and can be ordered to do, well…whatever really. I don’t feel that this is really what is being said since the idea of the mistress in Propertian elegy and the idea of the servitium amoris operates outside normal social relationships, Ponticus can’t order his beloved around because he himself is the slave and in effect she holds the whip hand. Bakers sees an oblique reference here to Tantalus, the son of Zeus and the nymph Plauto, who was condemned to Tartarus to stand in a stream beneath a fruit tree, whenever he reached for the fruit it sprang back from his grasp and whenever he tried to drink from the stream it receded hence tantalizing.
17. necdum etiam palles. This harks back to the pallor of the lover already mentioned in 1.1.22 and 1.5.21.
17. nec tangeris igni: again a reference to love being like a fire, this whole warning chimes nicely with Propertius’ self-identification as ‘peritum’, in effect he is saying to Ponticus, ‘this isn’t the half of it ,my man’
18. prima favilla mali: A further development of the theme of love as an illness or distemper.
19. Armenias tigres: An Armenian tigress, mentioned in both Vergil Eclogues.5.29 and Tibullus III.6.15, a fierce and remote (and notably female) danger that Ponticus would rather face than the agony of love, juxtaposed with the unearthly danger of line 20.
20. infernae vincula nosse rotae: This refers to the wheel upon which Ixion, king of the Lapiths, was bound to by Hermes on orders from Zeus. Ixion’s crime was to lust for Hera and, tricked by a knowing Zeus into coupling with a phantasm of Hera, Ixion was condemned to an eternity of revolving upon this blazing wheel of fire. Personally I’d take love over the wheel on account of the fact that, in my experience, love does eventually end.
21. pueri arcum: The boy is of course Cupid and his bow is that which sends forth love’s arrows.
22. nihil iratae posse negare tuae: Ponticus’ love is shown to be the whole hog, not only does he experience the fire and pallor of love, but an angry mistress and all her rage (cf. On 1.5.8) it is also partly this which makes the likelihood of Ponticus being able to freely gain access to his beloved more remote.
23-4 nullus Amor cuiquam faciles ita praebuit alas ut…Camps writes that this generally means ‘never does love grant any lover so smooth a course that he does not check to too from time to time’ but observes that ‘we cannot be certain what image is intended’. Of such images there are many and fanciful but the general sense is one of ‘love giveth and love taketh away’ the confidence (the flight) that love grants is equally beaten down by love. One is reminded of Procris and Cephalus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it is the very nature of love that leads to Procris’ tragic end; credula res amor est.
25. parata: The meaning is likely to be erotic, that is the girl may be laid out naked upon the bed but do not for one second be deceived that this will cure you of your malady or be anything other than further tumbling down the mountainside.
26 acrius illa subit: This idea of silently stealing is seen again in 1.14.20, as part of love’s modus operandi, thoughts of a lover sneak under the radar and burrow into the mind and heart. With reference to the girl laid naked upon the bed, well there you have your pleasure and downfall all in one.
26. tua es: Deliciously ironic inasmuch as in Ponticus’ case he does actually possess a legal right of ownership over his beloved.
27. vacuos seducer ocellos: These vacant or idle eyes are likely wandering, lustful ones also; you won’t be able to ogle the waitress’ bottom…
28. vigilare: The word carries ideas of remaining awake, a night-watch of sorts, Cynthia’s reproach at 1.3.35-7 comes to mind.
28. alio limine: The OCT reads alio limine, that is ‘at another’s threshold’, Baker reads nomine from MS Ω, which renders a translation of ‘in another’s name’. On balance limine seems to work better here when we think about the exclusus amor and the importance of the door in Propertius’ elegies especially in 1.16. Who hasn’t misspent large chunks of their teenage years at the unyielding door of a disinterested girl?
29. manus attigit ossa: Love strikes to the very bone, an idea we see in the unfortunate Dido of Aeneid IV
30. assiduas heu fuge blanditias: The meaning here would seem to have some connection with the parata puella of line 25; the continual, assiduous flatteries would be those of love itself, a culmination of all the charms that it can bring. Propertius wastes no time in warning any man (quisquis es) to run a good country mile from such blandishments.
31. silices et possint cedere quercus: flint has never been known for its emotional sensitivity and oak trees stand well in similes of resistance and endurance (Aenid IV…)that they themselves may yield to Love’s charms gives Ponticus or any other man, little hope of holding the line. Baker sees a connection here to Orpheus, which follows on from the reference to Tantalus in line 16 and Ixion in line 20.
32. spiritus iste levis: literally ‘that frail breath’ as already mentioned above Ponticus is being contrasted with the hardier specimens of flint and oak.
33.si pudor est: ‘if there is shame’, Baker describes this as being a slightly colloquial term similar to ‘for goodness’ sake’ but here Propertius’ meaning is reasonably clear, since he has laid his cards on the table it is only right that Ponticus spill the beans since to keep up the pretence that he is not in love with his slave girl would be an arrogant and foolhardy act.
34. pereas: The verb pereo here can mean perish or die but used figuratively wasting away has a more poetic ring to it, especially when we consider the physical symptoms of love noted at 1.5.21-2
34. saepe in amore levat: in other words, ‘write love-elegy as a means of coping’ Propertius returns to his theme carried over from Elegy 7 of a vindication of love-elegy in the face of epic. Smug perhaps; clever certainly.
Elegia X
O iucunda quies, primo cum testis amori
affueram vestris conscius in lacrimis!
o noctem meminisse mihi iucunda voluptas,
o quotiens votis illa vocanda meis,
cum te complexa morientem, Galle, puella 5
vidimus et longa ducere verba mora!
quamvis labentis premeret mihi somnus ocellos
et mediis caelo Luna ruberet equis,
non tamen a vestro potui secedere lusu:
tantus in alternis vocibus ardor erat. 10
sed quoniam non es veritus concredere nobis,
accipe commissae munera laetitiae:
non solum vestros didici reticere dolores,
est quiddam in nobis maius, amice, fide.
possum ego diversos iterum coniungere amantes, 15
et dominae tardas possum aperire fores;
et possum alterius curas sanare recentis,
nec levis in verbis est medicina meis.
Cynthia me docuit, semper quae cuique petenda
quaeque cavenda forent: non nihil egit Amor. 20
tu cave ne tristi cupias pugnare puellae,
neve superba loqui, neve tacere diu;
neu, si quid petiit, ingrata fronte negaris,
neu tibi pro vano verba benigna cadant.
irritata venit, quando contemnitur illa, 25
nec meminit iustas ponere laesa minas:
at quo sis humilis magis et subiectus amori,
hoc magis effectu saepe fruare bono.
is poterit felix una remanere puella,
qui numquam vacuo pectore liber erit.
Elegy 10.
Oh what a delightful night when, witness to love’s first pangs,
I was there, a confidant to your tears.
Oh what a pleasant indulgence for me to recall that night,
truly one that so often was summoned in my prayers,
when you, Gallus, drifting away in your girls arms,
I watched as you groaned your long, drawn out sighs,
although sleep was pressing upon my drooping eyes,
and the moon was glowing red, her steeds in the midst of the sky,
still I was unable to pull myself away from your dalliance,
such a passion there was in the exchange of voices,
But since you did not shrink from entrusting to me,
take the rewards of the joys you have confessed,
not only have I learned to recite your passions,
there is something in my, my friend, greater than trust,
for I am able to bring together again lovers who have been parted,
and I have the power to open the deaf door of a mistress,
so too can I heal another’s cares though they be fresh,
nor is there some trivial remedy in my words,
Cynthia, she always taught me that which much be sought,
the perils that each man should avoid: Love did that at least.
You watch out lest you’re minded to fight against a sullen girl,
or to speak haughty words, or to remain silent for too long,
nor let kind words fall upon your ears in vain,
the girl, she comes incensed when she is disparaged,
nor is she minded to lay aside her threats when wounded,
and yet the humbler you may be, the more subjected to Love,
the more often you will enjoy it’s happy gifts,
he will be able to remain happy with just one girl,
the man who will never be free without the girl in his heart
XII.
quid mihi desidiae non cessas fingere crimen
quod faciat nobis Cynthia, Roma, moram?
tam multa illa meo divisa est milia lecto
quantum Hypanis Veneto dissidet Eridano.
nec mihi consuetos amplexu nutrit amores 5
Cynthia nec nostra dulcis in aure sonat.
alim gratus eram: non ullo tempore cuiquam
contigit ut simili posset amare fide.
invidiae fuimus: num me deus obruit? an quae
lecta Prometheis dividit herba iugis? 10
non sum ego qui fueram: mutat via longa puellas.
quantus in exiguo tempore fugit amor!
nunc primum longas solus cognoscere noctes
cogor et ipse meis auribus esse gravis.
felix qui potuit praesenti flere puellae: 15
non nihil apsersus gaudet Amor lacrimis;
aut si despectus potuit mutare calores,
sunt quoque translato gaudia servitio.
mi neque amare aliam neque ab hac desistere fas est:
Cynthia prima fuit; Cynthia finis erit. 20
Why don’t you cease your fabricating a charge of idleness against me
what makes for my delay at Rome you know it is Cynthia,
the girl is separated from my bed by so many miles,
as Hypanis is distant from Ventic Eridanus.
nor does she nurse my familiar passions in her embrace,
nor does my Cynthia whisper sweet nothings in my ear.
Once I was a pleasure to her, at that time no one man
came close that he was able to love with similar loyalty,
we have been envy’s goal, surely some god has beat me down?
Or does some picked herb divide us upon Promethean crags?
I am not the man that I was: a long journey changes girls.
In such a short space of time Love he flees,
now for the first time to know these long, lonely nights,
I am compelled and to be a burden to my own ears,
happy is the man who is able to weep to his girl in person,
Love he doesn’t enjoy his game without a sprinkling of tears;
or if held in contempt is he able to change his passions.
There are too, joys in an altered servitude,
it is my duty neither to love another nor to abandon my girl,
Cynthia was the first; Cynthia will be the last.
